Measuring, monitoring and recording of biological and environmental conditions are important in maintaining wellness and treatment. In a hospital environment the pulse rate, respiratory rate, temperature, and blood pressure are taken and recorded on a regular basis. These measurements are referred to as vital signs. In rare cases the sensors are attached to the patient and the data is transmitted to the nurse's station. Such transmitting units are usually bulky and in all cases require hard wiring.
The same is true of outpatient monitoring. Bulky equipment is required which restricts the patients mobility. The patient is restricted to a limited area. One of the problems in developing a micromonitoring system has been the inability to monitor blood pressure separately from the other vital signs in a miniature low energy device that is accurate in ambulatory patients.
EKG monitoring is another area of key importance. Sudden cardiac death remains one of the major causes of death in the U.S. One of the barriers to prevention of this common event is the inability of many people to sense pain or discomfort during cardiac injury. Death can be avoided with proper intervention if injury can be detected in these individuals.
Monitoring of blood pool and cellular elements can be very valuable in monitoring and treating of vascular, neurologic, hematopoetic, biochemical and immunologic body functions. Such monitoring is now performed by conventional radiological, diagnostic, and interventional techniques.
Many environmental and biological hazards are currently measured only after a badge collects data over a period of days or weeks, not continuously during exposure. Injuries may be prevented if exposure could be determined continuously, and the monitored individual alerted right away.